(NEXSTAR) – Didn’t earn so much during your working years? It’s likely you’re still eligible for retiree benefits from the Social Security Administration.
The Social Security Administration (SSA) currently calculates a retiree’s benefits based on their “highest 35 years of earnings,” meaning that workers who didn’t pay into the system for several decades are unlikely to reap maximum benefits upon retirement.
But even folks who only worked a fraction of those 35 years, possibly at a low-income position, are still usually entitled to a minimum monthly benefit from the SSA.
What is the Special Minimum Benefit?
Since 1972, the SSA has offered some retirees a Special Minimum Benefit, or a payment designed to “provide adequate benefits to long-term low earners” in the United States, according to the SSA. But unlike traditional Social Security benefits, which are based on a retiree’s highest-earning years in the workforce, the Special Minimum Benefit (sometimes called the Special Minimum Primary Insurance Amount) has been determined only by the number of years a beneficiary had worked in “covered employment” — i.e., a job that withheld wages to pay into the Social Security system.
To qualify for the Special Minimum Benefit, a worker must have held such a job for at least 11 years. Workers that didn’t have these 11 years of “coverage” were perhaps not entitled to their own Social Security payments, but could qualify for other SSA benefits, such as Survivor benefits or Supplemental Security Income.
How much is the Special Minimum Benefit?
As of January 2026, the current Special Minimum Benefit for a retiree who worked 11 years in covered employment is $53.50 per month. But the amount increases for every additional year of coverage a worker has accumulated, up to $1,123.70 monthly for a beneficiary who worked a low-income job for 30 years.
The age at which a beneficiary began collecting has also determined how much of the Special Minimum Benefit they were entitled to. At 62 (the earliest age eligible), a retiree would receive somewhat less than if they waited until the full retirement age of 67. But unlike more traditional wage-indexed retirement benefits, a recipient of the Special Minimum Benefits could not delay retirement past 67 in order to maximize benefits.
Who still qualifies for it?
There’s also another major caveat concerning the Special Minimum Benefit: No one really qualifies for it anymore.
In recent years, fewer and fewer Americans have been eligible for Special Minimum Benefits — not because they had failed to meet the 11 year threshold for “covered employment,” but because the American workforce’s wages have generally outgrown price growth since the Special Minimum Benefit program was enacted in 1972, making low-income workers increasingly eligible for traditional Social Security benefits.
In fact, the Special Minimum Benefits program was projected to become “functionally obsolete” years ago, according to historical reports published at SSA.gov.
“For a worker attaining age 62 in 2024 and later, it is theoretically impossible to be paid under the Special Minimum PIA,” a representative for the Social Security Administration explained. “This is because from that point on the normal wage-indexed computation method provides a higher benefit than the Special Minimum.”
But what would that payment look like? Under current wage-indexed calculations, workers with some of the lowest incomes would generally be entitled to a few hundred dollars more than if their benefits were calculated using the Special Minimum Benefits formula, a representative for the SSA explained.
Does anyone still get it?
Oddly, however, some existing beneficiaries are still collecting their Special Minimum Benefits, and they’ll continue to do so. Low-income workers who retired before 2024, and had previously qualified for the program, are scheduled to receive payments as long as they’re entitled to them.
The SSA declined to say how many beneficiaries are currently receiving Special Minimum Benefits. But government officials have previously disclosed that Special Minimum beneficiaries had dwindled from around 200,000 in the early ‘90s to under 30,000 by December 2020.
An SSA spokesperson also confirmed that a retiree receiving Special Minimum Benefits cannot switch over to the more favorable formula, despite beneficiaries with similar working histories now qualifying for larger payments.
“Retirees who turned 62 before 2024 generally cannot have their Special Minimum Benefit recalculated, as it was determined based on the thresholds and rules in effect during their working years,” an SSA spokesperson explained. “The only ways for an older retiree to boost their Special Minimum Benefit are through annual cost-of-living adjustments or by correcting any errors in their earnings record with the Social Security Administration.”